Sunday, June 17, 2007

Fasten your Seat Belts

“Sir, would you prefer a window or an isle seat?” the lady at the check-in desk asked me, and a smile crossed my face. “Window,” I said. I have flown so many times before but the silly fascination of sitting on the window seat watching the action out of those tiny vacuumed glass cubes remains unchanged from what it was when I took my first flight. An airplane always brings back the kid in me.

I especially was not going to miss this opportunity because, it was late afternoon, and this is the time when you get the best view. After the security checks and a cup of coffee, I boarded the plane. As always, I was as eager as the maintenance engineer to find out what was happening in that open turbine cabinet and the hydraulic shafts and kept catching glances from the corner of my eye.

I so hate waiting in anticipation of a good co-passenger. So far, on most occasions I have been unable to find that vivacious person with whom you can strike an interesting conversation during the course of the flight to save yourself and hopefully, him or her from the boredom of flying. Reading is always the redeemer. This time though, to my surprise, the two seats besides me were empty. I thought rather not have a companion than having an unpleasant one! Life isn’t binary after all.

The safety demonstration and instructions got the “yeah, yeah, we have heard that before” looks from most passengers. In the meanwhile it felt like the plane had been taking rounds of the around the take-off strip for ever. I was beginning to get bored.

Finally that loud roar of the engines, the rudders sloping downwards and the wings raised a notch above the horizontal like a bird taking off, my surroundings appeared to be sliding backwards at a rapid pace and I was soon (my chronograph showed 35 seconds) off the ground after what felt like mild tremors.

Now coming to the point why I am writing the blog? I am sure everyone has traveled by air before and I shouldn’t be bothering you with tit-bits you already know. I am going to describe to you what I saw.

As the plane grew in altitude, I saw the most amazing view of Mumbai and its coastline. Cars looking like ants and local trains like serpents in a maze. It looked like on of those images you see on Google Earth, but way better in clarity. The cabin in-charge has mentioned that photography is prohibited, but I couldn’t resist sneaking a few photographs in.

As we moved higher, all we could see below is clouds stretched over the blue sky, like ice-bergs drifting in the ocean. It was breath-taking. On the clouds, I spotted the reflection of my plane, and realized how big the cloud actually must be in contrast to the plane. Besides, like the cherry on the cake, we even sighted a rainbow. I so wish I could push open the glass windows so that I could actually capture that sight, but sigh, it wasn’t possible.

But nonetheless, it gave me some more pass time in the plane in the form of writing this entry. Hope I have a safe landing. Bon Voyage to all my engineering pals who are traveling out of town this vacation!

2 comments:

Talking about View from the Top...this entry somehow gave me that nauseous feeling...only if i could describe it...but I guess Im gonna try explaining it...Remember how when we used to be kids back in shj and when we used to visit India for summer vacs and on our way back from the Vacs...before landing on the Dubai Airport, you would look down and see the city- sparkling in the night with all those wild Dubai city lights..and yet your tummy would grumble " Damm I miss India,cousins and all that love!" ...Wow this might seem stupid to you..but I wish i could visit my grandparents and cousins anytime soon =(

On My Mind

"All that is gold does not glitter,Not all those who wander are lost;The old that is strong does not wither,Deep roots are not reached by the frost.From the ashes a fire shall be woken,A light from the shadows shall spring;Renewed shall be blade that was broken,The crownless again shall be king."- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

About Me

Warning: This description is as random as the person who wrote it.
I am funnier than my posts. I am not as philosophical but then writing brings out the Plato in me. I can crib unendingly. People think I have complicated ideas about everything. How true they are! I hate it when my thoughts are not organised.I believe in Howard Roark's definition of egotism. I ask a lot of questions. I hate not getting a chance to reason in an argument. Once in a while, I think I should stop thinking. Photography is my most chaste love affair.Social causes are closer to my heart than they actually appear. I take my favourite movies very seriously, but then I am very choosy about those that make it to that list. I love satires and I wish I could master the art of writing them. I am a terrible poet. The poetry section on my blog is just an attempt to remind myself that I should not try anything in that domain. I love playing pranks. I wish I could travel at will. Holidays and leaves come so rarely. I can talk and talk and talk. Give me a person worth talking to.